Wolfsburg hold on for a point

Wolfsburg drew 1-1 despite playing with 10 men for an hour at Mainz, who missed a chance to boost their European hopes.

Last Updated: 23/02/13 6:24pm

Wolfsburg earned a 1-1 draw despite playing with 10 men for an hour at Mainz, who missed a chance to make up ground in the fight for the European spots in the Bundesliga.

Niki Zimling gave Mainz the lead after five minutes and Naldo equalised in the 15th minute but Wolfsburg then went a man down at the half-hour mark when Alexander Madlung was shown the red card.

Mainz have lost just one of their last seven home matches to move to 33 points, one point from a Europa League qualification spot.

Wolfsburg, who have collected five away victories this season, improved to 27 points, nine points clear of the relegation ranks.

The guests had the first chance after just 19 seconds as Marcel Schafer's cross found Bas Dost but he could not hit home at the far post.

Mainz grabbed the lead after five minutes as Wolfsburg keeper Diego Benaglio played a poor clearance directly to Mainz striker Adam Szalai, whose shot was blocked by Madlung. Szalai passed the rebound to Zimling who shot through the legs of Benaglio.

Wolfsburg equalised 10 minutes later with Jan Polak crossing from the right side into the middle where Naldo headed into the lower-left corner.

Szalai was unable to beat Benaglio in the 16th minute after a header from Andreas Ivanschitz but Mainz's job appeared to be made easier when Wolfsburg went a man down after 30 minutes after Madlung's professional foul on Nicolai Muller.

Szalai once again failed to score in the 64th minute with his left-foot blast going just left of the goal.

Szalai continued his frustrating day in the 86th minute as the Hungarian collected a pass from Chinedu Ede but he shot wide of the empty goal.